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<p>The University of Florence is seeking candidates interested in
performing PhD research activities in BioRobotics and
BioEngineering topics at the Department of Industrial Engineering
at the University of Florence, Italy.</p>
<p>Two PhD positions are available on the following research topics:</p>
<p><b>1) Research and development on modelling cognitive and motor
interplay using Biorobotics technologies and neuroscientific
approaches.</b></p>
<p>The PhD program aims to develop novel technologies in the field
of robotics and Internet of Things for studying the cognitive and
motor interplay in healthy subjects and patients with
neurodegenerative diseases. The idea is to investigate how these
technologies could be used to improve, objectify, and standardize
the current clinical practice that is performed without the use of
technology and to identify novel clinical protocols and methods to
better study the impact of motor and cognitive decline on humans.
In this sense the PhD candidate is requested to develop a
comprehensive digitalized intervention for assessment and
rehabilitation purposes, ranging from the development of
neuropsychological battery encompassing tests to assess subjects’
proficiency in several cognitive domains, such as memory,
language, attention, visual ability, and executive functions, to
the development of intelligent algorithms extracting digital
biomarkers for clinical classification purpose on
neurodegenerative diseases. The PhD candidate is requested to
follow a multimodal approach, using different instruments and
devices able to acquire physiological and behavioral data from
subjects and to implement artificial intelligence techniques, such
as machine learning or deep learning. Similarly, the PhD is
requested to development innovative and clinically meaningful
kinematic features, starting from a Neuroscientific Framework to
better understand the Motor‐Cognitive Interface.</p>
<p><b>2) Bio‐cooperative approaches in social robotics for
neurocognitive assessment and rehabilitation</b></p>
<p>The PhD program aims to dramatically enhance kinds of means, both
software and hardware, that allow interaction processes and bridge
capabilities between users and service/machines. One of the key
challenges in Active and Healthy Ageing (AHA) concerns the
implementation of interaction with dependable perception
capabilities and context awareness, with high acceptability and
usability, adaptability, and multi‐modal AI‐based approaches. This
will be pursued by investigating, designing, developing and
testing novel “social machines”, namely social robots, apps, VR/AR
tools and devices that will be conceived and integrated to
interact and communicate with humans by means of social behaviors
and rules. Bio‐cooperative systems represent the new generation of
robotic platforms that promote a bidirectional interaction between
the robot and the patient based on multimodal interfaces. Here the
idea is to additionally integrate also augmented/mixed reality
systems with wearable inertial sensors (for motion capture) and
haptic/thermal actuators (for closing the feedback loop). Such a
system will be employed through the adoption of innovative
bio‐cooperative HRI protocols that will take advantage of the
combination of motor, cognitive and social aspects. This task will
rely on Motor and Cognitive Dual‐Task (MCDT) protocols, as well as
Social Grasping, for the HRI setting. With such advanced and
human‐like interacting capabilities, the PhD candidate will aim to
demonstrate that machines and devices will be more believable,
easier to be adopted and not be abandoned, contributing to support
healthy living during daily activities and manage diseases;
interestingly, the PhD candidate will demonstrate that “social
machines” will be also able to measure and characterize the way
humans interact with themselves, generating a number of digital
biomarkers of interaction that could be used for early
identification and rehabilitation of motor and cognitive decline
in frailty and dementia. </p>
<p>Successful candidates should have good communication and project
management skills. Conference and journal publications are
desirable. </p>
<p>Applications should be sent online following instructions at the
following link: <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://es.sonicurlprotection-fra.com/click?PV=2&MSGID=202211030837120201482&URLID=11&ESV=10.0.16.7295&IV=242A8CA22F63FFB26B8517AF358FA512&TT=1667464633917&ESN=BXCIphci0n%2F8YIR9TRJWgqwAU4f05WG3%2BcM5KrfdPX0%3D&KV=1536961729280&B64_ENCODED_URL=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cudW5pZmkuaXQvcDEyMjQ2Lmh0bWw&HK=37E9B810190432B9C1B0A1DD0337577ECED0CA6E4E6386603A05464D561F0282">https://www.unifi.it/p12246.html</a> (deadline
10/11/2022, h12 Italian Time).</p>
<p>The positions are funded by the Minister of Research and
University (MUR) under the PNRR program. Further information on
the project could be asked to Prof. Filippo Cavallo
(<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:filippo.cavallo@unifi.it">filippo.cavallo@unifi.it</a>).</p>
<p></p>
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Prof. Filippo Cavallo
MSc Electronics Engineering
PhD BioEngineering
Associate Professor in Biomedical Robotics
Department of Industrial Engineering
University of Florence
Via Santa Marta, 3
50139 Firenze, Italy
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:filippo.cavallo@unifi.it">filippo.cavallo@unifi.it</a>
Mobile: +39 328 57 11 026
Affiliate Professor
Head of the Assistive Robotics Lab
The BioRobotics Institute
Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna
Viale Rinaldo Piaggio, 34
56025 Pontedera, Pisa - ITALY
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:filippo.cavallo@santannapisa.it">filippo.cavallo@santannapisa.it</a>
Phone: +39 050 883474
Scientific responsible of the BioRobotics of Parkinson joint Lab
Via Enrico Mattei, 21
54100 Massa MS
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://es.sonicurlprotection-fra.com/click?PV=2&MSGID=202211030837120201482&URLID=6&ESV=10.0.16.7295&IV=7FD693B743F5112FD9B27CCCC06387EF&TT=1667464633917&ESN=YgvfQH868HIyrianS5W9fiDN0BQ0AxZfr97azYd6eh8%3D&KV=1536961729280&B64_ENCODED_URL=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cudW5pZmkuaXQvcC1kb2MyLTAtMC1BLTNmMmMzNTJkM2EyYzI5Lmh0bWw&HK=2A942000E81AE7DA9A40934A52D0F75016281E0C57B26910A6DFA470B78571FA">https://www.unifi.it/p-doc2-0-0-A-3f2c352d3a2c29.html</a>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://es.sonicurlprotection-fra.com/click?PV=2&MSGID=202211030837120201482&URLID=4&ESV=10.0.16.7295&IV=A56B13113499AA08A64E6715A890D7CB&TT=1667464633917&ESN=4wHrLDZDk3d2Q7Pk5gxzIEtE0z0h9laKS7oBNVETsNs%3D&KV=1536961729280&B64_ENCODED_URL=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cubGlua2VkaW4uY29tL3B1Yi9maWxpcHBvLWNhdmFsbG8vNi8xMjkvNTcz&HK=E7CEDAC782FC55EAC98781DD61CEB506A30411C2EA7F127C4127134147DEBA38">https://www.linkedin.com/pub/filippo-cavallo/6/129/573</a>
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